Al-Manassa editor Nora Younis on censorship in Egypt
This summer, Egyptian authorities raided Al-Manassa for the first time since the independent news website was established in 2016. News reports describe at least six police officers storming the outlet’s only office in Cairo, confiscating a laptop, and arresting Nora Younis, the editor-in-chief. The following day, the public prosecutor’s office charged her with multiple unfounded…
Hungarian court gags investigative report, citing EU data protection law
Berlin, October 21, 2020—A gag order issued by a Hungarian court has cited European Union data privacy rules to prevent the weekly Magyar Narancs newspaper from publishing an article on Budapest-based soft drinks company Hell Energy and its owners, according to the article’s author, Ákos Keller-Alánt, and local news reports. The court in Budapest issued…
CPJ joins letter calling on Guinea government not to disrupt internet access
The Committee to Protect Journalists today joined 35 other press freedom and human rights organizations in a letter calling on authorities in Guinea to maintain the stability and openness of all digital communication channels before, during, and after the presidential election scheduled for October 18. The letter emphasized the importance of the internet and other…
Thailand issues emergency decree, nationwide restrictions on press
Bangkok, October 15, 2020 — The Thai government should immediately drop its emergency decree restricting the ability of the press to cover protests, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. At 4 a.m. today, the Thai government issued a decree limiting public assembly and instituting a nationwide ban on publishing and broadcasting news that could…
CPJ, partners warn of Turkey’s compromised institutions in press freedom mission
Turkey’s press freedom situation is continuing to deteriorate as judicial independence shrinks and the government’s grasp on the internet tightens, a delegation featuring the Committee to Protect Journalists and 10 other international press freedom and human rights organizations said in a statement and a press conference today. From October 6-9, 2020, the delegation met with…
Australia’s Northern Territory denies news website NT Independent access to government events
New York, October 8, 2020 — The Australian Northern Territory government should immediately grant the NT Independent news website equal access to government events and conferences, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. The Northern Territory government has refused to allow the NT Independent, which covers politics and local news in the territory, access to…
Germany revisits influential internet law as amendment raises privacy implications
On October 1, a new law to regulate content posted on social media platforms took effect in Turkey, The Guardian reported. Turkish journalists already face censorship and arrest because of social media posts, CPJ has found, and the law offers just one more tool to censor news. Yet the legislation was not solely conceived in Ankara; it follows the example of one…
Mapping Venezuela’s shrinking radio landscape
Mapping Venezuela’s shrinking radio landscape Venezuelans navigate an information desert amid COVID-19, humanitarian & political crises By CPJ Central & South America staff and Coral Negrón, CPJ Patti Birch Fellow for Data Journalism As the COVID-19 pandemic spread rapidly around the world, few countries were already in such a state of humanitarian crisis as Venezuela….
CPJ joins call for California attorney general to investigate technology used in Belarus censorship
The Committee to Protect Journalists joined free expression and digital rights groups on September 23 in calling on Xavier Becerra, California’s attorney general, to investigate technology sales by Sandvine Inc. after the company acknowledged that its products were being used to block news and other websites amid anti-government protests in Belarus. The call, co-signed by…
Crimean Tatar civic journalists risk persecution to cover their community in Russian-annexed Crimea
After Russia annexed Crimea in 2014, some Crimean Tatars–the indigenous population of the Crimean peninsula–had to flee for the Kyiv-controlled part of Ukraine. But most have chosen to remain. As the Russian-appointed new authorities established blanket censorship, squeezing out independent media outlets, a new phenomenon emerged–civic journalism. Members of the Crimean Tatar community–who had not…